In a news release dated March 27, 2008, but issued today, Colonel Terry J. Ebbert has announced that he will retire from his position as Director of Homeland Security for the City of New Orleans on June 30.
Yesterday, June 9, Kenya J.H. Smith, a stalwart of the Nagin Administration announced his resignation as head of Director of Intergovernmental Relations.
In many government agencies there are departures during the second half of the second administration.
Ebbert was named to his position in February 2003. According to a news release from the City, “he has been responsible for overseeing the New Orleans Police Department, the New Orleans Fire Department and the New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness. He also orchestrated much of the local disaster response following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Since the storms, he has coordinated planning for future disasters, working closely with agencies throughout City government, as well as with state and federal partners.
Director of Emergency Preparedness Lt. Col. Jerry Sneed, who led the City’s hurricane preparation efforts in 2007, will continue in his role. Sneed developed the City Assisted Evacuation Plan, which plans for the evacuation of citizens who cannot leave the city without assistance in the event of an emergency.
“Colonel Ebbert has been a committed and determined leader within this Administration,” said Mayor C. Ray Nagin. “He is respected for his breadth of knowledge and for his ability to work with varied partners. He also has performed the important job of putting together a team that is able to move forward the work he has begun. I thank him for his dedicated service and wish him well as he moves into the next chapter of his life.”
Ebbert has served in positions of leadership for the past 35 years. A U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran awarded the Navy Cross, Ebbert received the second highest award for valor given by the United States”
Ebbert said in the news release that he had “some family, personal and professional goals that remain unfulfilled and that he intends to remain involved in working to restore our great city to its prominent position as one of the strategic and vital cities in America. New Orleans is the energy heartland of America and as such we will play on the world stage.”
Kenya J.H. Smith, who served as the bridge between local, state and federal government, announced his resignation today as Director of Intergovernmental Relations to Mayor C. Ray Nagin. Smith’s last day on June 20 which will predate the planned ending of the Louisiana legislature.Smith will mark the end of a nearly six-year-long stint that extended through Hurricane Katrina, beginning only six months into the Mayor’s first term.
Smith joined the administration after working for local law firm Adams & Reese. He first served as executive counsel to the Mayor.He then became Director of Intergovernmental Relations just two weeks before Hurricane Katrina and became a fixture at the legislature and helping the City maneuver the byzantine roads of the federal government in helping with the recovery.
During his State of the City Union speech, Nagin had also announced the departure of Becca O’Brien, the Executive Council of the City.A few weeks earlier, Nagin specifically praised her during events at New Orleans Day at the Legislature.
The city stated in a news release that Smith “has not yet announced his next move, he promises that “it will be something that will allow me to stay engaged in, and continue advocating on behalf of the New Orleans community that I love.”
